Free, full-fibre broadband for all?

It is one of the more surprising aspects of the current UK general election campaign that broadband policy has been hitting the headlines as one of the main controversies. Is a more radical approach to broadband policy desirable and feasible? Dr Steve Unger, affiliated researcher at the Bennett Institute, gives his insights to the current policy debate.

For the Conservatives, Prime Minister Boris Johnson stated that the targets for full-fibre broadband set by his predecessor were ‘laughably unambitious’, and pledged to deliver ‘full fibre for all … in five years at the outside’.1 Now we’ve seen Opposition Leader Jeremy Corbyn respond with a promise to deliver ‘full-fibre broadband to every home, in every part of our country, for free’.2

Dr Stephen Unger is Chair of the IIC's UK Chapter, an IIC Director, and is a former Board member of Ofcom, the UK regulator responsible for digital communications. He had various responsibilities, including setting regulatory strategy for the UK, representing Ofcom internationally, and leading Ofcom’s technology programme. Before becoming a regulator he spent several years in the private sector, working with technology start-ups developing new digital technologies. He now works on practical solutions to new regulatory challenges, both as a consultant (with Flint Global) and as an academic researcher (with the Bennett Institute of Public Policy in Cambridge).